> It was Apple's most profitable quarter ever, raking in $78.4 billion. It also sold 78 million iPhones in the three months leading up to New Year's Eve — more than any previous quarter.
> Net income was almost $18 billion. In other words, a license to print money.
Designers, developers and gamers have always been the opinion leaders in personal computing. Apple showed they could maintain and resurrect their business by keeping their appeal with designers and making an attractive platform for developers. Gamers always stuck with Windows or consoles.
Abandoning designers and developers means gradual erosion of your position as leading personal computing platform; the opinion leaders are no longer on your side telling everyone how great your products are.
Now this might be a really smart strategy when you factor in mobile and cloud computings impact on personal computing. Hard to say how that will play out. My guess is it's a big mistake to leave designers and developers behind, especially as we enter the era of VR content creation.
I think you're significantly overestimating the degree to which people will follow recommendations that are explained by complaining about features they didn't even know existed, even if they are much less informed than the one giving the advice.
When friends ask me "What laptop should I get?" I don't tell them about the differences between various versions of Visual Studio or why I prefer Windows 7 or 10 over 8.
They don't. They look around for somebody with an informed opinion and ask "Hey, I'm switching my computer, what do you think I should buy", go with the answer.
And, of course, they'll trust the answer much more if it's the same thing the expert is using.
This is more a long term issue, of course you don't feel it when some trend-setters leave your product behind for something else. But these people are trend-setters...
I'm personally still 2 versions behind on osX because of Aperture. Now I heard photos can do many of the things aperture can except that you can't organize your library. Wut? Yeah, a real pro would switch to Lightroom right? And Lightroom is also available on Windows. As is Bash. As are multiple desktops. And finally Windows machines are getting quality trackpads and in it is easy to buy upgradable Windows PCs. Still I'd wish the Adobe suite was available on Linux though...
This was my last Mac, especially now that Dell and HP seem to finally understand that people are willing to pay for quality hardware.
This isn't a perfect analogy but if my mechanic said he only drove brand Y because it was reliable and then I heard anecdotally from Uber drivers they drove brand Y for similar reasons it would be an input for my next car purchase.
If I may so humbly suggest it: people on Hacker News and the like are (please excuse the corporate speak) thought leaders and trend setters for similar reasons. Developers are well ahead of the public on what's actually useful as their jobs require much more out of a system than a casual user. It's obvious there is some amount of the HN community that are unhappy with Apple's offerings and are switching to other vendors.
Sure Apple is printing money now: the general public are ready buyers of Apple product. No doubt Apple's incredible marketing is largely responsible, but there's an undercurrent of opinion based on what people like HN members use and some small percent is shifting away from Apple. I don't think anyone can really predict the long term trend here: we'll only really know in retrospect, but it is possible if that trend grows then public sentiment will eventually follow suit.
Exactly. And it seems every king of the mountain makes this mistake. Meanwhile, Microsoft, who many of us shunned for years because of them doing exactly this, is turning around and starting to show promise.
I do predict a visible shift of developers from Apple to MS - not to do Windows development, but to do general development on a Windows device... and possibly in a Linux shell within Windows.
Until they clean up Windows wholesale, top to bottom, there's no way it will ever be the same experience.
There's just so many layers of abject garbage in Windows. These are there for legacy reasons, but they're also a giant hassle if you're trying to work as a developer.
Some Linux distributions are rough around the edges, but few of them are as tired and worn out as Windows is.
macOS at least burns off the underbrush once in a while. There's few 32-bit apps in the wild now, most everyone's gone 64-bit. PowerPC is history. The driver landscape, while significantly more limited than Windows, isn't filled with broken garbage and junk that works on Windows 7 but not 10 or vice-versa.
Microsoft's strength is legacy support: Applications from fifteen, even twenty years ago still run. This is also their biggest problem.
You are right. I'm not saying Apple is doing bad. It's just short-sighted to let the Mac (Pro) die. They might need a more colorful palette of products in the future. It's easier for them to keep the Mac alive than having to rebuild it if they abandon it. It will take them years to get the professionals back if they do so.
> Apple reports record profits in first quarter
> It was Apple's most profitable quarter ever, raking in $78.4 billion. It also sold 78 million iPhones in the three months leading up to New Year's Eve — more than any previous quarter.
> Net income was almost $18 billion. In other words, a license to print money.
http://www.marketplace.org/2017/01/31/tech/final-note/apple-...
So, tell me, why should they make an extra effort? They're good as they are.